Scary.
written: 10:42 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009

I was all, "Feel what?"

"The room was shaking!" she said. She turned to Chun Ying and continued, "That was why I turned to you just now and asked you if you felt anything!"

Chun Ying backed her up. I was still confused and going, "Um, I didn't feel anything." Minutes later the mentor came back to the room and told everyone to evacuate because the building experienced slight tremors.

OMG WUT.

The fact that we were on the 30th floor helped matters 0%. We all took the lift down; it stopped a bit too frequently for my taste, about three times. During the excruciatingly long lift ride I was subjected to Longjin telling everyone how he'd rather be on the top floor if the building collapsed because he'd die quicker; if he was on the first floor he'd get trapped under debris and die of suffocation or starvation or dehydration or whatever. The girl across from me started laughing nervously and said that the first thing she'd do is to run.

I muttered something about how the conversation was very dark under my breath. Then an announcement was made over the PA system, telling everyone about the tremors and advising all to stay away from windows; but evacuation was not necessary.

Well, the A&G managing partner told everyone to leave, and we were on our way down, and the mentor said he'd email us; so when we reached the ground floor, Esther and I decided to split.

I drove there and parked at the building. I deliberated over whether to go get my car or not. In the end, laziness, my desire to see my boyfriend, and my unwillingness to hang around any longer took over. I took the lift up to the 5th floor of the carpark and SPED down as fast as I could.

No wonder I suddenly felt giddy in the middle of the meeting. I thought it was just my gastric acting up again as it was a similar sort of nausea. But oh my god, it was NOT my gastric. The girl across the table (or maybe it was Chun Ying) also said that she saw the lights moving. Which...is quite scary.

It was only until I called my mom an hour later when I was having dinner by myself at TCC and told her about it that I learned it was because of an earthquake in Indonesia. Tremors were felt in Singapore, so says the news.

True that. I actually experienced an earthquake once when I was living in Taipei, but that was way too long ago for me to remember what it felt like. I have vague recollections of the ground shaking and the house being all dark, but I'm not sure if it's a real memory or just a fabrication in my mind of a memory in response to the fact, told to me by my parents, that I experienced an earthquake once. It could also very well have been a very, very vivid dream. (On the subject of vivid dreams - I had a super vivid one of being trapped under the debris of a collapsed building the night of the September 11 attacks. I still remember it now.)

Being caught in the middle of a natural disaster is scary as hell. Somehow, the revelation that the tremors were caused by the Indonesian earthquake, and not mere structural problems, makes it even scarier. I'm very glad I didn't know about the earthquake when I was still in the building.

***

On a happier note, I bought two new tops today and they add up to less than $50. Totally love myself.

before sunrise // before sunset

Previously:
- - Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017
I'm moving. - Sunday, Jul. 11, 2010
In all honesty - Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010
What I want for my birthday... - Sunday, Jul. 04, 2010
On Roger's behalf. - Friday, Jul. 02, 2010